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An analysis of the human faculties is also given in this Section, in which the five external senses particularly claim attention.
When these topics are proposed in our assemblies, we are not confined to any peculiar mode of explanation; but every brother is at liberty to offer his sentiments under proper restrictions. The following thoughts on this important branch of learning may, however, be useful.
The senses we are to consider as the gifts of Nature, and the primary regulators of our active powers; as by them alone we are conscious of the distance, nature, and properties of external objects. Reason, properly employed, confirms the documents of Nature, which are always true and wholesome: she distinguishes the good from the bad; rejects the last with modesty, adheres to the first with reverence.
The objects of human knowledge are innumerable; the channels by which this knowledge are innumerable; the channels by which this knowledge is conveyed, are few. Among these, the perception of external things by the senses, and the information we receive from human testimony, are not the least considerable; the analogy between them is obvious. In the testimony of Nature given by the senses, as well as in human testimony given by information, things are signified y signs. In one as well as the other, the mind, either by original principles or by custom, passes from the sign to the conception and belief of the thing signified. The signs in the natural language, as well as the signs in our original perceptions, have the same signification in all climates and nations, and the skill of interpreting them is not acquired, but innate.
Having made these observations, we shall proceed to give a brief description of the five senses.
Hearing is that sense by which we distinguish sounds, and are capable of enjoying all the agreeable charms of music. By it we are enabled to enjoy the pleasures of society, and reciprocally to communicate to each other, our thoughts and intentions, our purposes and desires; while our reason is capable of exerting its utmost power and energy.
The wise and beneficent Author of Nature intended, by the formation of this sense, that we should be social creatures, and receive the greatest and most important part of our knowledge by the information of others. For these purposes we are endowed with Hearing, that by a proper exertion of our rational powers, our happiness may be complete.
Seeing is that sense by which we distinguish objects, and in an instant of time, without change of place or situation, view armies in battle array, figures of the most stately structures, and all the agreeable variety displayed in the landscape of nature. By this sense we find our way in the pathless ocean, traverse the globe of earth, determine its figure and dimensions, and delineate any region or quarter of it. By it we measure the planetary orbs, and make new discoveries in the sphere of the fixed stars. Nay more ; by it we perceive the tempers and dispositions, the passions and affections, of our fellow-creatures, when they wish most to conceal them, so that though the tongue might be taught to lie and dissemble, the countenance would display the hypocrisy to the discerning eye. In fine, the rays of light, which administer to this sense, are the most astonishing parts of the inanimate creation, and render the eye a peculiar object of admiration.
Of all the faculties, sight is the noblest. The structure of the eye, and its appurtenances, evince the admirable contrivance of Nature for performing all its various external and internal motions; while the variety displayed in the eyes of different animals, suited to their several ways of life, clearly demonstrates this organ to be the master-piece of Natures work.
Feeling is that sense by which we distinguish the different qualities of bodies; such as heat and cold, hardness and softness, roughness and smoothness, figure, solidity, motion, and extension; which, by means of certain corresponding sensations of touch, are presented to the mind as real external qualities, and the conception or belief of them is invariably connected with those corresponding sensations, by an original principle of human nature, which far transcends our inquiry.
All knowledge beyond our original perceptions is got by experience. The constancy of Nature's laws connects the sign with the thing signified, and we rely on the continuance of that connection which experience hath discovered.
These three senses, hearing, seeing, and feeling, are deemed peculiarly essential among masons.
Smelling is that sense by which we distinguish odors, which convey different impressions to the mind. Animal and vegetable bodies, and indeed most other bodies, continually send forth effluvia of vast subtlety, as well in the state of life and growth, as in the state of fermentation and putrefaction. The volatile particles probably repel each other, and scatter themselves in the air, till they meet with other bodies to which they bear a chemical affinity, with which they unite, and form new concretes. These effluvia being drawn into the nostrils along with the air, are the means by which all bodies are smelled. Hence it is evident, there is a manifest appearance of design in the great Creator's having planted the organ of smell in the inside of that canal, through which the air continually passes in respiration.
Tasting enables us to make a proper distinction in the choice of our food. The organ of this sense guards the entrance of the alimentary canal, as that of smell guards the entrance of the canal for respiration. From the situation of these organs, it is plain that they were intended by Nature to distinguish wholesome food from that which is nauseous. Every thing that enters into the stomach must undergo the scrutiny of Tasting, and by it we are capable of discerning the changes which the same body undergoes in the different compositions of art, cookery, chemistry, pharmacy, &c.
Smelling and Tasting are inseparably connected, and it is by the unnatural kind of life men commonly lead in society, that these senses are rendered less fit to perform their natural offices.
Through the medium of the senses we are enabled to form just and accurate notions of the operations of Nature; and when we reflect on the means by which the senses are gratified, we become conscious of the existence of bodies, and attend to them, till they are rendered familiar objects of thought.
To understand and analyze the operations of the mind, is an attempt in which the most judicious may fail. All we know is, that the senses are the channels of communication to the mind, which is ultimately affected by their operation; and when the mind is diseased, every sense loses its virtue. The fabric of the mind, as well as that of the body, is curious and wonderful; the faculties of the one are adapted to their several ends with equal wisdom, and no less propriety, than the organs of the other. The inconceivable wisdom of an Almighty Being is displayed in the structure of the mind, which extends its power over every branch of science; and is therefore a theme peculiarly worthy of attention. In the arts and sciences which have least connection with the mind, its faculties are still the engines which we must employ; the better we understand their nature and use, their defects and disorders, we shall apply them with the greater success. In the noblest arts, the mind is the subject upon which we operate.
Wise men agree, that there is but one way to the knowledge of Nature's works - the way of observation and experiment. By our constitution we have a strong propensity to trace particular facts and observations to general rules, and to apply those rules to account for other effects, or to direct us in the production of them. This procedure of the understanding is familiar in the common affairs of life, and is the means by which every real discovery in philosophy is made.
On the mind all our knowledge must depend; it therefore constitutes a proper subject for the investigation of masons. Although by anatomical dissection and observation we may become acquainted with the body, it is by the anatomy of the mind alone we can discover its powers and principles.
To sum up the whole of this transcendent measure of God's bounty to man, we may add, that memory, imagination, taste, reasoning, moral perception, and all the active powers of the soul, present such a vast and boundless field for philosophical disquisition, as far exceeds human inquiry, and are peculiar mysteries, known only to Nature, and to Nature's God, to whom all are indebted for creation, preservation, and every blessing they enjoy.
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